


Off Colored

by Strangexunusual



Category: Beetlejuice - All Media Types, Beetlejuice - Perfect/Brown & King
Genre: Beetlejuice Has Mood Ring Hair (Beetlejuice), Confusion, Demons, Emotionally Repressed, Emotions, Families of Choice, Family, Family Drama, Family Issues, Found Family, Gen, Multi, Worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-28
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 16:00:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29031312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Strangexunusual/pseuds/Strangexunusual
Summary: When Betelgeuse’s hair stops changing color in conjunction with his emotions and remains a bleak, stark white in shade, it’s up to the rest of the family to figure out a way, if any, to help him.
Relationships: Beetlejuice & Charles Deetz & Delia Deetz & Lydia Deetz & Adam Maitland & Barbara Maitland
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	1. Chapter 1

“So, all demons have hair that changes color based on what emotion they’re feeling? It’s not just you?”

Sitting beside Adam, an arm around his shoulder (not in a flirty way, mind you), Betelgeuse nodded in response to the male ghost’s question. For the past hour and a half, the two deceased males had been talking about demons and their hair. Adam turned to another page in the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and pointed to a particular paragraph within it. 

As Betelgeuse explained more into detail the exact paragraph that the male ghost had pointed out to him, Adam suddenly thought up another question. One he wasn’t exactly sure Betelgeuse was going to want to answer. 

“What happens if a demon’s hair stops changing color based on the emotion they are feeling at the moment?” Adam suddenly asked, bringing a concerned and incredulous look to the demon’s face as his hair turned a light shade of yellowish orange. He stared at Adam for a few elongated minutes and the male ghost stared back at him, like some sort of staring contest. Finally Betelgeuse turned his attention back towards the Handbook for the Recently Deceased, confusing Adam. “Betel-?”

Betelgeuse held up a hand and Adam fell silent. “It’s best not to talk about that, Sexy. You really don’t want to know.”

“O-Kay????” Adam said, trailing off.

He was still curious, however. After lunch, and while Barbara, Lydia, and Delia were washing the dishes and putting them away, Adam went back upstairs to the attic and found Betelgeuse sitting off in one corner, reading through the Handbook. The demon looked up as Adam sat down next to him before returning his attention to the page he was currently on in the Handbook.

“Hey, uh... Betelgeuse-?” Adam nervously began, only to be cut off by Betelgeuse. 

“If you’re going to ask me what exactly happens if a demon’s hair suddenly stops changing color ... then I’m going to say the same thing as I did earlier: it’s best not to talk about that, Sexy.”

“How did you know I was going to ask that?” questioned Adam, looking both confused and curious at the same time.

Betelgeuse chose to ignore that, turning the page in the Handbook.

Most definitely finished with washing the dishes, Barbara teleported both herself and Lydia into the attic not too far from where Adam and Betelgeuse were.

“Hey, guys, what’re you up to?” Barbara asked curiously, sitting down next to Adam.

“Trying to ask Betelgeuse about demon hair colors,” was Adam’s response, looking up at Barbara as Lydia sat down beside the two of them. “I’m trying to get him to tell me exactly what happens if a demon’s hair stops changing color based on what they feel.”

“You don’t wanna know,” Betelgeuse simply stated, not even looking up.

“Well now I’m curious,” smirked Barbara. Betelgeuse grumbled in annoyance and slammed shut the Handbook, the resulting noise making the Maitlands and Lydia jump.

“Look...” Betelgeuse sighed dramatically. “I know I said it’s best not to talk about that, but you guys are bringing it up quite a lot. So... let’s just say a demon whose hair suddenly stops changing color based on emotion is kinda like a living person being sick.” 

“Has it happened to you before?” asked Barbara. 

“No.”

“What about other demons?”

“No.”

The Maitlands looked at one another and then at Lydia. It sounded as though Betelgeuse was just answering no in an attempt to not talk about the subject or talk about something other than the subject. 

Lydia stood up and left the attic, heading downstairs to go get herself some lunch. And, as Adam and Barbara stood up in unison to leave the attic as well, Adam quickly glanced at Betelgeuse and noticed something was up with his hair. He stopped and nudged Barbara, who stopped and turned her attention onto Betelgeuse as well.

“Uh, bug-.”

“What??” 

Betelgeuse looked worriedly at the two ghosts, wondering what was up. Barbara had a hand covering her mouth and her eyes were widened in utter surprise, an expression that was mirrored on Adam’s face. 

“It’s my hair, isn’t it?” 

“Definitely your hair!” both of the ghosts chimed in unison.

“What color is it?” he asked, sounding a little worried.

“It’s still green... but there’s a little white in it,” indicated Barbara, squinting just a little. 

“White?” repeated Betelgeuse.

“Yeah... it’s faint, but I can see it,” Barbara affirmed, her, Adam, and Lydia looking at the demon in concern. Barbara turned to Lydia, the previously concerned look on her face switching to a look of worry. “Lyd, can you have your dad or Delia come up here?”

“Probably Delia,” Lydia proffered. Barbara nodded and Lydia turned, rushing over to the door of the attic and exiting.

Barbara grabbed a hold of Betelgeuse’s hand, her and Adam leading the demon over towards a chair in another corner of the attic. They sat him down in said chair then moved to sit down in the two chairs opposite it. Betelgeuse glanced at the two ghosts, the whiteness showing up a little bit more in his hair. 

“You do know the white in your hair’s a little brighter now, right?” Barbara pointed a hand out at the demon’s hair, then promptly put it down again when Betelgeuse arched an eyebrow at her. 

He summoned the Handbook again, and the chairs the three of them had been sitting on became a couch; with the Maitlands situated on either side of him. As Betelgeuse opened the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and flipped through it until he got to the section on demons, the expressions on Adam and Barbara’s faces grew more curious.

“Wow, would you look at that,” Adam exclaimed, pointing at a particular paragraph on the page on demon sicknesses.


	2. Chapter 2

Lydia rushed down the stairs and into the living room of the house, where her dad and Delia were both currently sitting together and watching some sort of cheesy romantic comedy film on the television set. The teenager came to a halt, stopping just inches from the couch that her dad and her stepmother were occupying.

They became equally as concerned, Charles pausing the tv as he and Delia turned their attention to the teenager.

“Lydia, is something going on-...” Charles began, only to get cut off by his daughter. 

“Deliaithinkyoushouldcomeupstairswithme.ithinkthere’saproblemwithBetelgeuse‘shair!” Lydia spurted out at once, Charles and Delia sharing a worried look then turned to look at Lydia again. 

“Lydia. Slow down and repeat everything you just said.” 

“Delia, I think that you should come upstairs to the attic with me. I think that there’s a problem with Betelgeuse’s hair!” Before Delia could say much of a response, Lydia grabbed a hold of her hand and began to lead her towards the stairs; the two females slowly making their way up to the attic.

“I’ll be back down soon, Charles!” Delia shouted down the stairs to her fiancé, him shouting back an ‘okay!’ in response. She turned her attention to Lydia, who seemed to be a little determined as she made her way up to the attic, asking, “what’s going on, Lyd?”

“Betelgeuse’s hair seems to be turning a shade of white all of a sudden. Not even Adam and Barbara are sure what’s going on,” the teenager said, turning her attention to her stepmother as they made their way up the last of the stairs to the attic. “Barbara told me to go down and get you... just in case you had any idea as to what’s been happening.”

Delia nodded, and Lydia looked forward again as the door to the attic came into view.

Lydia pushed open the door to the attic space, entering with Delia in tow, to find all three deceased residents of the house sitting off to one corner of the attic, Adam and Barbara reading through the Handbook for the Recently Deceased and Betelgeuse explaining more into detail some of the important facts on demons that neither ghost seemed to understand. Lydia glanced up towards her best demon friend’s hair, noticing most of it was now entirely a stark white in shade. She coughed loudly and, almost immediately, Adam, Barbara, and Betelgeuse glanced in her and Delia’s direction.

“Ah, Delia,” Barbara remarked. “Something’s up with Betelgeuse’s hair. Ad and I are unsure on what it is.”

“I can tell...” observed the life coach, turning and focusing her attention over towards the aforementioned demon’s hair then back over towards Barbara; who, like Adam, had also refocused her attention to Betelgeuse’s hair.

Lydia and Delia moved closer to the three deceased, Delia sitting down beside Betelgeuse and Lydia moving to sit down next to the Maitlands; though she kept her worried eyes focused solely on Betelgeuse’s hair. She watched it become a little more white than it had previously been then looked over towards Delia with a concerned look on her face, one that was also present on Adam and Barbara’s faces.

“If by anything, I’d have to say that Betelgeuse is most likely sick or something,” Delia speculated, directing the attention of Betelgeuse over to her.

“How can I possibly be sick? Demons rarely ever get sick with the exceptions being only when...” he stammered, trailing off, and everyone else present in the room took immediate notice that it had made his hair gain more white in shade. 

“The exceptions being only when a demon’s hair stops changing color based on emotion or if a demon’s hair turns more white any and every time you feel something? ‘Cause the second thing’s been happening to you...” interjected Barbara, looking Betelgeuse straight on in the eyes.

Betelgeuse flipped through the pages of the Handbook for the Recently Deceased at a fast rate until he got back to the page on demon sicknesses, passing it straight to Barbara; who took it and started reading the topmost paragraph.

“Hmmm...” she began. “It’s some sort of illness that occurs in demons, alright, but it’s also some sort of phase that all demons go through.” 

“Then I would’ve already gone through it,” Betelgeuse interjected, Barbara shooting him a look then focusing her attention back down towards the Handbook for the Recently Deceased as she continued on with her reading.

“For demons who have gone through the phase already, it can happen again... but as a sort of sickness. It is not permanent but we can’t really tell how long it’s going to last for. There are few cases and it doesn’t happen to all demons. One of the telltale and first signs of it happening again is a demon’s hair turning a stark white in shade, which happens in phases. Eventually, the affected demon’s hair won’t change color whenever they feel anything.”

“And your hair seems to be almost entirely a stark white in terms of its shade,” added on Adam, Betelgeuse looking over towards him before turning his attention back over towards Barbara and Lydia.

Everyone nodded, serious. With what was currently going on with Betelgeuse’s hair, the rest of the family was going to help him past it.


	3. Chapter 3

Adam and Barbara now sat on the couch with Betelgeuse, the three of them reading through the Handbook whilst Lydia and Delia were downstairs and talking to Lydia’s dad about something. What it was, the Maitlands had a distinctive feeling that it in itself had something to do with Betelgeuse’s hair. Betelgeuse, however, was not sat on the couch, but instead was draped across the back of the couch. His hair was almost completely stark white in shade. And it was starting to annoy him. 

They’d been reading up more on demon sicknesses and learning quite a lot about demons for the last half hour, with input from Betelgeuse on the more technical stuff that neither ghost seemed to understand. 

Who knew there was still a lot of information on demons that they still didn’t know. They for sure didn’t.

As Barbara flipped the page and began reading, Betelgeuse all of a sudden let out a groaning noise and flopped over onto the couch with a loud thump. One which very nearly launched Adam and Barbara off of the couch and onto the floor. Luckily, they stayed put. Barbara sighed, handing the Handbook over to Adam as she focused her attention on Betelgeuse. 

“Betelgeuse, are you okay?” she questioned, sounding concerned. 

Betelgeuse said nothing.

“Bud?” Adam tried. 

Again, nothing.

Now Adam and Barbara were equally as confused. They stared at one another, then Adam began to frantically flip through the Handbook; desperately trying to figure out if it said anything about what was most likely wrong with the demon. When he found little to no information, Barbara suggested that he check the section on demon sicknesses; as that section would the the most likely to contain the information Adam needed. 

He flipped to said section and, after a bit of looking, eventually found the information he was looking for.

“Aha!” he exclaimed. “As a demon’s hair starts to turn a stark white in shade, they will slowly start to lose all aspects of themselves and eventually their minds will be nothing but a blank slate. The only way to fix this is to help the affected demon by doing things that will slowly bring them back to reality. But do it quick, as after a few weeks, the demon will remain that way forever.”

“Well, that’s helpful...” commented Barbara, frowning slightly. “But also a little sad.”

“Yeah...” Adam nodded in response just as the Deetzes entered the attic and made their way over towards him and Barbara.

Lydia and Delia stood next to where they had been sitting before they headed downstairs whilst Charles stood a few feet away from the five of them. Delia glanced at Betelgeuse and noticed that his eyes looked blank and were staring straight ahead.

“Am I imagining things or did Lydia and I miss something whilst we were downstairs?” Delia asked confusedly, looking from Adam to Barbara then turning her attention back over towards Betelgeuse.

“He just made a groaning noise and then that happened,” Barbara replied, gesturing a hand out to Betelgeuse and focusing on Delia.

Delia nodded in understanding, though she was still a little confused.

“The Handbook said we had to help an affected demon return to normal by doing things that will slowly bring them back to reality within the next few weeks,” Adam said. “But I’m not sure what they mean by that.”

“What if they mean that we need to do the most chaotic things to bring him back to reality,” Lydia suggested with a smirk, directing the attention of all four adults onto her. 

Barbara shook her head. “No, Lydia.” 

Lydia huffed, then turned her attention over to another far corner of the attic.

“What else are we going to do to possibly bring him back to reality before these next few weeks are up?” asked Barbara, looking to her fellow adults.

“I think we should start with positive reinforcement,” Delia spoke up after a few long minutes of silence shared between the lot of them. “And if that doesn’t work, I think that we’re going to need to take a different approach.”

The rest of the family nodded in agreement with her and turned their attention over towards Betelgeuse, thinking of a way to go about it. They hoped as heck that Delia’s suggestion of positive reinforcement would work. And if it didn’t, were they going to have to try Lydia’s idea to do the most chaotic things in order to return the demon to normal?

There was only one way to find out.


	4. Chapter 4

As it turned out, Delia’s suggestion to use positive reinforcement to try and bring Betelgeuse back to reality only half worked. Betelgeuse was reacting whenever any of the other members of the family asked him questions or talked to him. However, he was still staring blankly ahead. Barbara, who had been skimming through the Handbook for the last half hour, closed it and put it off to the side. And she and the rest of the adults debated over whether or not to be chaotic in order to bring the demon back to reality completely.

In the end, however, they decided to go through with it.

Lydia chucked a pillow in Betelgeuse’s direction and it hit him in the chest area before dropping solidly to the living room floor. Then she picked it up again and proceeded to amusingly do the exact same thing as before.

He turned to her, but remained blankly staring straight ahead. A good sign.

Moving to sit herself down on the couch, Lydia pulled out her phone and started using it; wanting to give all four of the adults in her life a chance to do chaotic things and hopefully bring him back to reality. 

But then there was the fact of how they were going to deal with his hair remaining that sickly stark white color in shade. Would it start changing color again whenever the demon felt a particular emotion? Or would it remain the same color that it was now? It could be either, but the other five hoped that it was the second thing.

Barbara summoned two or three pieces of her scrapped pottery and threw them to the floor. It didn’t work, but that wasn’t going to stop her or any of the other adults from continuing to try, was it?

Adam turned to Barbara, though the tone he used whilst speaking was both a little nervous and a little weary, “I know this is something that neither one of us would even want to do again for the rest of eternity, but you don’t think we should-...”

“What? Bring him back to reality by making out with him?” Barbara said in surprise, her voice lowering to a whisper.

Adam nodded.

“Ad, are you sure that’s going to be a good idea? You know how we felt when he did it to us.”

“I do, yes. But I also know that it just might work.”

Barbara sighed, her and Adam turning their attention onto Betelgeuse; who was, of course, now staring blankly in their general direction.

But, after a minute, they were once again equally as nervous as one another, staring at each other with panicky expressions on their faces. Five minutes, and they managed to calm down enough to do this.

Barbara sighed, opting to go first. She slowly laced her arms around Betelgeuse’s neck, dipping him in a kiss, then pulled away from him a few seconds later and backed up a technical few hundred feet, allowing Adam a chance to do it. And she started to notice that the demon was slowly coming back to reality. Even if it was only just a little.

Adam carefully placed his hands on either side of the demon’s head, leaning in, then pulling away from him. 

When he backed up to stand next to Barbara and looked in Betelgeuse’s general direction, Adam immediately noticed that he was shaking his head back and forth as a slight pinkness mixed in with the stark white shade his hair still was. 

Betelgeuse stopped doing so after a few long minutes, then glanced over in Adam and Barbara’s direction, blushing like crazy.

“Did you just-?” 

Adam and Barbara nodded at once in response to the question and Betelgeuse immediately went in to dip Barbara into a kiss.

“Hey! Just because we did it to you doesn’t necessarily mean that you should immediately do it back to us,” Adam pointed out, holding back a quiet laugh. “We only did it to bring you back to reality.”

But Betelgeuse didn’t seem to care, pulling away from Barbara and moving to dip Adam in a kiss.

He pulled away, glancing at Barbara with a look that said, “I regret doing this.” 

“Well, at least we know that he’s back to being himself,” Barbara said, amused, with a quiet laugh and a shrug. “And, from the looks of it, his hair color does seem to be going back to normal. Though I can still see a little bit of the stark whiteness peeking out through the mixed light pink and light yellow. We need to help him get rid of what remains of the white. Though I don’t suppose you’re up for making out with him again.” 

Adam silently nodded his head in agreement.


	5. Chapter 5

A few weeks had since passed, and Betelgeuse’s hair was no longer that sickly shade of stark white. And he seemed to fully be back to normal.

Well... almost...

He was currently spending some time in the attic with the Maitlands, touching up a little more on demon related things with them (depending on whatever they asked on the subject) as the two ghosts waited for Lydia to get home from school and for Charles and Delia to get home from work for the day.

“Now, I just want to talk about anything other than demons and hair colors,” Betelgeuse said once Barbara had brought up the subject. “Okay?”

Adam leaned backwards, crossing his legs and resting his arms behind his head as he peered up at the ceiling. “You sure you don’t want to talk more about that? Because a few weeks ago-....”

“I thought we agreed never to speak of what happened the day my hair turned that shade of stark white,” pointed out Betelgeuse as he turned his attention to Adam. The male ghost snickered in response, causing Betelgeuse to groan as he turned his attention away from Adam.

Adam smirked playfully. “Right... well, I was just curious. That’s all.”

“Well then, maybe I can give you the Handbook and you can read it front to back,” the demon said in a joking voice. But Adam knew he was being serious.

“Uh... no... no thanks.”

“There’s a lot of things you don’t know about ghosts.”

“Like what?” 

“Illnesses that afflict ghosts.” 

“Hah! Ghosts can’t get sick!” said Adam in what appeared to be a proud tone of voice, righting himself, causing Barbara to snicker.

“From things that afflict the living, they can’t. But there are a lot of different types of illnesses that affect ghosts that they can’t pass to the living. I’d talk about it with you, but I think that’s a topic that best wait another day.”

“Well, now I want to learn more about that subject,” said Barbara with a sly smile plastered across her face, one that was also present on Adam’s face.

“No, you don’t.”

Adam and Barbara gave the demon puppy dog eyes, causing him to groan in annoyance.

“Please......” 

“Alright! Fine! Let’s start with one of the super rarest illnesses that a ghost can contract. Only few cases have been reported so far and it disappears as soon as it appears in a ghost-...”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And, that’s the end of this story. I hope you guys enjoyed reading it! :).


End file.
